April 19, 2014

Federal officials have ignored six small businesses on the ground floor next to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new headquarters, refusing to share information about the building’s renovation or the future of their shops.

The shopkeepers’ fears are warranted, because CFPB’s renovation blueprints assume the businesses will be forced to leave in the bureau’s $136 million project.

The sight of CFPB officials forcing out independent shopkeepers may not sit well with Congress, which created the bureau in 2010 to protect consumers and small businesses in the marketplace.